Speaking of Denmark, I believe you will not be very unfamiliar with this country. This is a country that started from pirates and belongs to a branch of the Germans. Originally from the Dan people, “Denmark” means “the east where the Dan people live”. On June 8, 793 AD, Danish pirates attacked a monastery on the northeast coast of England, ushering in the era of piracy. Since Danish pirates began to attack the coast of England, the scope of Danish pirates’ activities has continued to expand. The main targets of robbery are the coasts of England and France. Their robbery and killing caused a lot of panic in Western Europe.
Is Denmark a pirate country?
Why are Danish pirates so rampant? The main reason is that the pirates had no settlement at that time, and they came and went without a trace. He ran away after grabbing them. Therefore, the armies of England and France were unable to defend, and there was no way to use them, so that the pirates grew stronger and the harassment of England and France became more and more rampant. Danish pirates, from the beginning of a ship and a group of people to land and rob, later the pirates united to form a fleet and organized an attack on merchant ships in England and France.
Some pirates began to settle. Some pirate chiefs controlled several commercial ports in Flandre, France. The settled pirates attacked Scotland in droves and settled in England. They separated the occupied territories from England and established an independent pirate kingdom. The Danish pirates who settled in England continued to expand into England. In 871, the pirates occupied London. In 879 AD, the Danes entered into a treaty with King Alfred the Great of England, and the northeastern part of England was placed under the jurisdiction of Denmark, called the “Danish District”.
Danish pirates living in England often cooperated with other pirates, and King Alfred the Great of England formed a fleet to intercept those pirates. The pirates living in the “Denmark District” of England believed that the English fleet was also a threat, so they cooperated with the Danish pirates to resist the English navy. As a result, the Danish pirates encountered a storm at sea and were washed away. Alfred the Great won the victory. The pirates of the Danish District surrendered to the King of England, and the Danish District returned to the hands of the English.
The pirates who attacked England eventually merged into the United Kingdom, while the pirates who attacked France took root in Romandy, France. This Danish pirate was originally only harassing France. Because it was camped in Romandy, France in the winter, the king of France had nothing to do with the pirates and could only buy them to prevent them from causing trouble on the coast. In 911 AD, the King of France negotiated with the Danish pirate chief Rollo and gave him Romandy as a duchy, on the condition that Rollo ensured that France would not be invaded by pirates. Rollo finally accepted this condition. Many Danes immigrated to the area. William, a descendant of the pirate Rollo, later conquered Britain.
When the Danish pirate Rollo became the Duke of Romandy, Denmark did not form a unified country. The first Danish king recorded in Danish history was Gorm. After his son Harald Bluetooth succeeded to the throne, he pushed the Danish pirate career to the top. During his reign, Schleswig and the islands around Jutland were incorporated into the territory of Denmark and basically unified the Kingdom of Denmark. In 961 AD, King Harald Bluetooth took advantage of the Norwegian civil strife and sent troops to invade Norway and force it to surrender, laying the foundation for the alliance of Denmark and Norway for nearly a thousand years.
In his later years when Harald Bluetooth King reigned, he believed in Christianity and stopped pirates from immigrating, which led to the division of the country into two factions. There is a faction who wants peace and stability at home, eliminates hidden dangers from the outside, and does not want war. The other faction supports piracy to plunder wealth. This faction that supports the pirates wanted to support the king’s young son Bazi Xu Wang Sifan as the leader of the pirates. As a result, there was a conflict between the father and the son.
The Danish King Harald was shot and killed by an arrow during the conflict. The Bazi King Sfan became the King of Denmark. The militant pirates found a sense of belonging, and the Danish pirate career was once again carried forward. Soon, Sfan occupied Norway and conquered most of England, becoming King of England. In 1014, Sfan fell to his horse and died. His 18-year-old son Knut succeeded to the throne. In 1016, Knut captured the entire territory of England and became the king of Denmark, Norway, and Scotland. After the death of Knut the Great, his North Sea Empire collapsed and the Vikings gradually withdrew from the stage of history.
The Danish pirates lost control of England, but the pirate Duke William of Romandy conquered England in 1066. After the mid-12th century, the Danish civil strife, Valdemar defeated and killed Sven III in 1157, unified Denmark, established the “Valdemar Dynasty”, set the capital of Copenhagen, and created a powerful feudal monarchy. It was not until 1848 that Denmark abolished the autocratic monarchy and changed to a constitutional monarchy. This system has been maintained to the Kingdom of Denmark today.
